I'm back!

The weather was quite bad -- heavy rain, thunder etc -- and the B&B wasn't wonderful, but the sun shone enough in the right places to make it all enjoyable.

Bertie was baffled by all the new concepts. First of all the whole idea of going on holiday. Like, here we were sharing a tiny kennel -- tiny!! -- when we already have a huge many-roomed kennel. He seemed a little worried that this might be a permanent arrangement. There was barely room to swing a hedgehog, let along a large greyhound. At one point he'd finished eating at his bowls under the handbasin and found he couldn't turn round because I was standing next to the bed. So with a heavy sigh he hauled himself up on to the bed and took a shortcut.

Other problems with the B&B: it was cold and damp, the front door opened directly on to a busy main road, the room wasn't en suite. Moan, grizzle. I'm spoilt by having stayed in such top-notch B&Bs previously -- after you've been plied with tea and scones in front of a peat fire, nothing less will do.

Other concepts new to Bertie:

Cattle grids. The first one lulled him (and me) because it was covered by a disinfectant mat (for foot and mouth). The second one he found before I did, and ended up sprawled on the ground with badly bruised knuckles. Poor boy! He also had a scrape on one thigh and a cut, but it didn't faze him for long. And at the third cattle grid he waited for me to open the gate.

Steamboats: We took a cruise on the Sir Walter Scott, a little pleasure steamer on Loch Katrine. The sun shone, the hills were glorious. The boat was packed with sugared-up children who all fell in love with Bertie. He was trapped, so had to get over his fear of little people. As an experience it very nearly blew all his fuses, I think, and he nearly pulled me over getting down the gangplank when it was all over.


The Sir Walter Scott on Loch Katrine

Bats: What is that? A mouse? A bird? Just too weird.


More detail later. Right now I'm heading for a deep hot bath. Hard to believe it's July tomorrow...

Yesterday Anthea and I went to the Gullane Bents -- not a great walk for Bertie due to the extreme heat but nice for the rest of us. On the way home the brakes started playing up, making horrible graunching noises and not feeling entirely trustworthy, so this morning I phoned the garage and I'm taking the car in tomorrow for new pads. Again.

That meant I was without transport today, sigh, no big expeditions. It was boiling hot this morning, then it rained in the afternoon, which was very pleasant for those of us who were thinking "mmm, better water the garden today" and who could then feel non-guilty about lying on the sofa reading. (Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund, highly recommend it.)

After the rain stopped we went for another walk, again chummed round by Sandy & co. The rain had cooled things down & it was very still too. There were a lot of dinghies and yachts out, all gliding very, very slowly up and down the firth, especially those working against the tide.

For dinner I charred a couple of lamb chops on a disposable BBQ -- Bertie crunched up the bones.

It was nice sitting reading with the doors flung open, but unfortunately it upset Bertie. Every little noise from the neighbours (also enjoying the evening cool) had him springing up, barking and whining. I tried shutting him out of the living room, but of course that didn't work. In the end I had to shut the doors to calm him down. Grrr.

I phoned the B&B in Callender and they're getting back to me tomorrow. Wednesday and Thursday I thought. Maybe.

Another blissed-out day of holiday. Um, I mowed the lawns, front and back, after having breakfast outside (pretending it was sunny), which was after walking the dog. On the walk we met Sandy with his dogs Amber and Cassie, and the Italian Spinoza or whatever it is was also there. Shadow the other greyhound appeared but quickly disappeared when she saw the big gang of dogs -- she's shy in company. Sandy & co chummed us round the marina as well as round the field.

The rabbit was still there and still dead. Apparently.

After mowing the lawn I bundled the boy into the car and we went to Blackness via the garden centre. At Blackness we had a long long walk, along the coast path. Bertie sprained a leg doing a fancy turn at speed but it seemed to come right almost immediately despite a lot of screeching and limping initially.

Amusing conversation with elderly gent on bench at Blackness:

EG (pointing at Bertie): Defenestration?
Me: Pardon?
EG: Defenestration?
Me: I'm sorry?
EG (as if to a foreign slow learner): Is. He. Finished. Racing?

It was surreal -- for a minute I honestly thought he was asking if Bertie had been thrown out a window.

So then we came back and I cooked dinner and watered the container plants and potted up a little alpine thingummie with orange flowers and watched some TV and did some ironing.

I feel mildly embarrassed that I enjoyed today so much but I did, so there.

WARNING
This entry contains violence and animal cruelty issues. If you're a sensitive, animal lib vegetarian type person, look away now.

Bertie finally caught a rabbit.

He seemed surprised, after the initial excitement (growling, squealing, thrashing around, dying etc). He seemed particularly surprised that after the rabbit was dead, it kind of stayed dead. He poked it with his nose a few times and stood back all eager, as if waiting for it to start the game again. I waited for him to bring his prey to my feet in tribute, but he didn't. He got bored with it in about two minutes and that was that. I hope some lucky fox is feasting on it right now.

OK the veges can look back again.

I went sailing this afternoon, since it was sunny and there was a nice breeze. Oh, and it's the first day of summer. On the morning walk Bertie and I took a stroll along the marina pier and watched Ian, one of the instructors, teaching a kayak class. "Going for a sail?" he said, "Great day for it." So I did. I went home and got my wetsuit and dinghy boots and cagoule and gloves and went for a sail.

I made a mess of launching -- the wind was quite strong, an easterly, and before I could get the rudder down, I was blown on to the pier. It's a bugger getting out of this -- the sail is trapped flat against the jetty. One way is to raise the centreboard and capsize, then walk the boat out (thigh deep in sticky black mud) before relaunching. But happily the sea scouts were out and about, and their support boat towed me out of trouble.

The sail itself was fab, nice and bouncy and exciting. I just cruised up and down the river, getting very wet. Sailing in a wetsuit really makes a difference on the Forth, it's cold even now, and even on a sunny day like today. I "parked" without too much palaver -- it can be tricky coming in with a strong wind, you have to let the sails out enough so you don't come in too fast and crash onto the slipway, but not so much that you end up drifting into the pier. I managed not to do either. After I'd put the boat away, I went off to find someone to confess to -- I'd noticed that the sail was torn, where I'd hit the pier and the mast had dragged across it.

They were very nice about it, just said these things happen, we'll just get it mended.

What else? Not a lot. I've scanned a lot of photos, done the garden (but not the lawn), cleaned the house, been for a few more expeditions. I love being on holiday. I'm sooooooo relaxed. I might go away for a few days next week, if I can be bothered that is. I'm thinking of going to Callander, it's not far away and there are lots of forest walks etc for Bertie.

OK it's safe -- I'm in a better mood. Not quite refreshed and revitalised, but well on the way. I've been for healthful walks, done some gardening (read: weeding), found a fantastic garden centre (bought one micanopsis, himalayan poppy, blue) and bought some other plants at the Ingliston Market (nemesia, cornflowers and one sad little strawberry).

Here's some news: I'd sent off a cheque to a greyhound rescue organisation that offers to trace your dog's pedigree, and got a spiffy printout in return. Bertie's maternal grandfather, Polnoon Chief, came second in the Scottish Derby in 1991! Then he retired to stud and had over 480 kids, so Bertie's actually nothing special, if you do the arithmetic ...

If you're interested, you can see the pedigree here. It's quite a big scan, so only if you're really, really interested.

Slightly unnerving thing: I found a greyhound database site today where you could search on a dog's name. So I put in Hardtobehumble (aka Bertie) and there was a reference with a note: "Rescued greyhund now owned by Mrs Barbara Agnew of South Queensferry". So the rescue organisation had added Bertie to the database already ... fair enough, I guess. But still ...

No blog today, I'm in a very bad mood.

Tune in again when I'm on holiday.

Yet more sightseeing: this time we "did" part of the Old Town, including the High Kirk of St Giles, George IV Bridge and Greyfriars Kirkyard. When I peeled off, Faye was heading for the museum. Tomorrow she may go to the zoo -- I have stuff to do at home.


St Giles

Bertie is going to be devastated when Faye leaves, he is completely under her spell.

I forgot to tell about our adventures on Saturday, a day of heavy rain. I had a lunch date (a former workmate back in town briefly), so Faye went round Edinburgh Castle while I sipped Pims, ate a delicious lunch and chatted. Afterwards I picked her up -- she didn't get too drenched -- and we headed off to Dunfermline to track down an ancestral home, stopping off to dress more sensibly and collect Bertie.

For the record: It is called Bamboo Cottage -- there's now a plaque saying so. (Faye took pictures, but they may be a little blurred on account of the heavy rain. I stayed in the car.) It isn't where Grandad Dick was married; according to the certificate, that was in Coatbridge.

After that soggy experience we forayed further into Fife, north to Dollar. We had a pleasant if damp walk up Dollar Glen, a picturesque spot.


On the way back to the car, Bertie defied my call to stop and jumped through the fence to the carpark and the road. Bad Dog! I yelled and bellowed for him to come, and he did -- at top speed. He raced right past me and screeched to a halt next to Faye. Who wasn't yelling and bellowing. OK, I get the message.

Sorry about the glitch down there ... I don't know how to get rid of it.

More sightseeing today: a walk on Holyrood Park

We walked back along the Radical Road, where the slope meets the cliffs. The sight of Bertie tripping happily along the very edge of the precipice gave Faye vertigo. It looks much steeper from up there.

The weather was better today, hot and sunny, but we seemed to spend most of it stuck in traffic. We also popped in to see Anthea. She put her cat, Jessie, outside so Bertie could roam around. When it came time to leave we found him in the bedroom, having an intense staring contest with Jessie through the window. Both were stock still, Jessie with her fur fluffed to absolute maximum.

Needless to say, Bertie lost. Cats can stare anyone out.

For anyone trying to give up smoking:

I think my bad streak may be over. I took the car in to the garage today and the chap there fixed a few little things -- the squeaks, the sticky gear shift, the choked water filter -- and charged me £15. He sent me round to a place round the corner to have them look at the exhaust, they phoned him with their price and I went back to get his price -- £50. The blokes around the corner said my brake discs were nearly shot, but my garage bloke said, nah, they'll be all right. So when I go back next month for the MOT (annual warrant of fitness), he'll get the exhaust done.

While he was tinkering with the car, Faye and I went to the Botanical Gardens for a walk. Very lovely in there, as usual. The rhododendrons are out and the azealeas, but the borders haven't really got under way yet. Then we whizzed back home in my newly smoove car, stopping off for lunch in a cafe overlooking the firth. We squeezed in a Bertie walk before I had to fly off to work. Faye is crashing out tonight, she's still pretty exhausted after her traumatic journey north. She's going to offload some luggage at my place (the joys of vast storage space!) so the trip back to England shouldn't be so bad.

Election night went reasonably smoothly at work. The foreign pages were a little bit more work than expected because there were late-breaking developments on a couple of stories, but nothing too challenging. I stayed until about 2:15am, by when the election outcome was pretty clear. I would have stayed longer but I knew I had to get up early this morning.

New computer, new computer, new computer!

Of course it didn't go that smoothly, installing a new computer never does. But just minor ruffles -- the new box doesn't power the monitor and I discovered my monitor's power cord had an American plug on it; and my printer didn't come with a USB cord. I whizzed in to the shop and got a USB hub while I was at it, and some CD-ROM disks. Finally got it all humming and celebrated by taking Bertie to Blackness for a run.

Blackness Castle

USB totally rules! How wonderful to plug in a printer and have a message pop up saying, hmm, I see you have an HP DeskJet, let me see what I can do...

The scanner arrived today and it's fab too, so tiny and thin and delicate. Again, installing with USB was a breeze.

Updates on the website will be a while yet though, because I'm too busy for that. Today was a bit mental -- I started out having no spare time at all and ended up with heaps. It started last night when sister Faye phoned to say she'd be arriving today. Yikes! So this morning I phoned the garage and said I'd bring the car in tomorrow instead of this morning. Then Faye phoned to say she'd missed her train due to nightmare delays on the Tube. Phoned the garage to change my mind again, but it was too late -- they'd already taken on another job. Then my boss phoned to say I didn't need to come in early after all!

So I had plenty of time to clean the clarty house fairly thoroughly, walk the dog, go to the supermarket, walk the dog and vote. And clean the house again, because it rained during our second walk and Bertie spackled the floor with muddy pawprints.

I went to the new Tesco that opened this week. I felt guilty about taking the car -- it's only a longish walk away -- but I had to get in supplies so Faye will have something to eat while I'm at work. Anyway it was all shiny and new -- but otherwise almost exactly the same as the 24-hr Tesco in town. And horribly crowded, full of people dithering around blocking the aisles with their trollies.

I've been told about a wonderful event that might change my shopping habits: a farmers' market on the first and third Saturday of the month, in the middle of Edinburgh. Martin and Heather who invited me to dinner last week had just been there and come back with some fantastic veg, cheese and other produce. I'm going to check it out next week.

I'm off to join the throng at the office TV watching the election results.

New computer, new computer, new computer! It's in the boot of my car at the moment. The scanner is due to arrive on or around Friday. This morning I hurriedly backed up what few new files there are on my clapped-out old pile of junk, and it ceremoniously crashed as I was shutting it down. See if I care.

I'm not going to sit up all night playing with the new stuff. I'm going to walk the dog when I get home (1.30am) and get a good night's sleep, then spend tomorrow playing with it. I should also clean the house, because it's an even bigger tip than normal. Ah, I love days off.

We had a troubled night last night at Salty Towers. Bertie caught a hedgehog on the front lawn after our late-night walk and gave it a good seeing-to before it managed to escape (it was still on its feet, but there was a chunk of hedgehog skin on the lawn this morning, complete with prickles). It took him a while to settle down, after I'd pulled all the hedgehog prickles out of his face and legs. Then he seemed to be suddenly freaked out by the noise from the bridge roadworks (it's been going on every night for a week or so), kept whining and barking and running round. Finally I moved his bedding into my room. He seemed surprised to find himself in there this morning, and later made a huge fuss when he went upstairs and I hadn't moved it back to its proper place.

Faye is coming! Her job -- she has a choice of three so far -- won't start until next Friday at the earliest, so she's coming up to Scotland for a visit. She's missing her dog Ruby, so she's looking forward to spending quality time with Bertie, who will love her to pieces. I'm looking forward to it too, it'll be fun showing her the sights.

The thing about knowing your karma is septic is that you don't then get all worked up when plans gang agley.

Like today, I just knew my computer wouldn't be ready -- so when I phoned the shop and they said no, I wasn't all bent out of shape. Not even when they told me my modem and scsi card aren't PCI and the new motherboard only has PCI slots. The poor young man who answered the phone was all ready to put in a non-PCI motherboard to accommodate the old cards, but after I yelled at him a bit he went and got someone with better english who agreed that yes, it was probably worth spending a bit more on a new modem & scanner than being stuck with a ye-olde motherboard.

So he's putting in a PCI modem and I'm getting a USB scanner. Ordered it tonight, via the internet. How very modern. It's a Canon CanoScan, a thin little thing that got very good reviews on jungle.com. And my computer will be ready tomorrow. Which is just as well because I hadn't backed up any of my files on the old machine. And now I'll be able to put the scsi card & modem back in it, and maybe one day get it a monitor and keyboard and mouse and network it. Or something.

I've set myself up for some more grief by booking my car in for a service. It squeaks like a cage full of budgies and the gearbox is "sticky". I hope it just needs a grease and some clutch fluid rather than a new clutch plate. I cannily booked it in for Thursday, well after the full moon.

I nearly had two traffic accidents today -- one when another driver ran a red light, another when an elderly ditherer tried to change lanes right into me. Tomorrow being full moon day I'm seriously considering taking the bus. That way even if I do have the accident I'm karmically unable to avoid, my car will be ok.

I got some perfume today with the Boots voucher, Ralph by Ralph Lauren. I was going to give you a link, but it's apparently too new for the internet. It's light, summery, floral. Almost like talc. My last perfume was Mitsouko by Guerlain, but my favourite is Eau Par Kenzo. Boots didn't have either of those. I chose the Mitsouko after a long session of sniffing samples at John Lewis. It's gorgeously rich, heavy but not toooo heavy, very feminine, soft and warm. And then a friend came to stay and was horrified, because it's her scent, her signature scent, she doesn't know anyone else who wears it. I felt quite guilty -- thought I do remember the saleswoman telling me, "No-one else in the room will be wearing this, it's very unusual." So I understood my friend's hurt feelings. I feel a little like that with Eau Par Kenzo, too -- I don't know anyone else who wears it. It's mine.

Apparently this run of abyssmal luck I've been having is the fault of the stars. (Of course it's not my fault, how dare you!) Here's what one astrologer has to say for Sagittarians this week:

Are you sitting comfortably? of course you're not. There is scarcely an archer alive who isn't either battling the boss, collecting their divorce papers or wandering around singing daft love songs -- or all three. Whatever's going on, the emotional temperature this week will rise as the Full Moon arrives in your sign on Tuesday and lines up with volcanic Pluto. Like the election, it's sure to get messy -- just try not to hit any fellow voters, especially ones you love.

I talked to Andrew today, who's also a Sag, and he's had an exciting week on the farm -- he caught someone trying to steal the diesel fuel they keep in a big tank for their tractors, and they've had an infestation of peacocks.

Back in the city -- after Thursday's carry-on, Friday started out relatively calmly. But I had a fraught night at work, and at one point completely lost my rag and threatened to leave. I really am thinking seriously about it, it's starting to look like an attractive option. Then there were a couple of late-breaking major stories -- the Tel Aviv bombing and the Nepali royal family massacre -- that had us working hard through the break and right up to the wire. Exciting, but tiring.

So I got off to a bit of a late start on Saturday, though I managed to get quite a lot done -- including potting up a couple of tomato plants I'm going to try growing on the "patio" -- before heading off to the races. The traffic was terrible, so I ended up missing the first race. Got a bet on for the second though, and met up with my friends (using our mobile phones as locating devices: "I'm by the yellow and black umbrella at the front of the stand.." "Yes, I can see Martin now..")

It rained. Three of my horses came last.

But it was lots of fun, wonderful atmosphere and worth the money I frittered away.

Martin and Heather invited Fiona and I back to their place for dinner -- and very sweetly invited Bertie too. I went back home to walk and water him, and reluctantly decided to leave him home. Perhaps I should have taken him, he was certainly peeved about being left at home again, after spending most of the day alone.

Anyway dinner was lovely. But when I left I discovered I'd left my car lights on and the battery was flat. Martin kindly fetched his car and jumper leads but that didn't work. The starter motor was jammed. So I called my rescue service, and after trying everything else the bloke gave me a bump-start by towing the car.

Bertie was thrilled when I arrived home at 1.30am, but later gave me what I took to be a coded message. He tore a newspaper to pieces in front of me, looking at me intently the whole time. Rip. Rip. Rip. Tiny little shreds.

Today I was looking forward to spending some quality time with him, but alas I had a call from my boss saying he'd hurt his foot badly and would I please come to work early. Siiiiiigh. It wasn't too bad though, only one page.

Tomorrow I collect my new computer but I won't have much time to play with it until my day off on Wednesday. I'm making no other plans for Wednesday. I'll need to recover from Tuesday's full moon, and Thursday is the election, I'll have to be calm for that.

The good news is that I only have this week and part of next week, and I'm off on holiday for two weeks. I had planned to go away for the second week, but staying home is increasingly tempting. Two weeks of lazing around, doing a spot of gardening now and again, going on dog-walking expeditions, maybe taking in some culture -- art exhibitions and such -- mmmm, that could be very good indeed. Maybe I could go away for just a couple of days. Or not.